Tag Archives: Ids de Jong

As Febrovery rolls to a close, it’s time for a final rover roundup! [Feature]

Alas, Febrovery has reached the end of the road. If only February were a few days longer, then we would get more amazing LEGO rovers rolling across distant moons. On the other hand, more days might burn out those hard-working builders creating a new build each day. Let’s celebrate our favorite rovers from the second half of the month. In case you missed it, here is is our mid-month roundup. Tell us in the comments which rover you’d most like to take for a spin!

Two-seater Monowheel Rover by Wynd

We lead with greebles courtesy of this delightful monowheel from builder Wynd. It’s a fresh spin on her rover from last year, maintaining the neo-classic space vibes, but expanding for an extra passenger and bringing in a rubber tire.

Our Febrovery roundup continues with many more amazing space builds

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There are LEGO space rovers aplenty in our Febrovery 2025 mid-month roundup [Feature]

Febrovery brings all the builders to the yard, and by yard I mean crater-pocked retro space surfaces that can only be tamed by big wheels and a whimsical design. With dozens of rovers being shared each day, and some builders creating a new rover every day of February, we can’t possibly cover them all, but as the event is such a supernova of creativity, we have to give it our best effort. With Febrovery half over, we present some of our favorite builds so far. Tell us in the comments which rover you’d rather ride!

Retro radar rover by Ids de Jong

Every day during Febrovery the mad inventor Ids de Jong has robots B1 and B3 encounter a new rover, drawing inspiration from classic Space themes or inventing new ones. Like this radar rover that looks like it rolled out of the atomic age (or the toybox of Shannon Sproule). The Alpha Team windscreen is a part we don’t often see in MOCs, but it looks great here, especially paired with that lovely sand blue!

Grab an air tank and helmet and ride along with us to see more amazing rovers!

A good feast is worth fighting for

These cute woodland citizens gathering acorns in this LEGO scene by Ids de Jong may look harmless, but they are armed and ready to defend their bountiful banquet. While the tree and the landscape are masterfully constructed, my favorite plants are the two winding dandelion flowers, which could make a lovely tea to help wash down those delicious nuts. Many builders have used the custom mouse heads from Crazy Bricks, but this builder digs deep into the LEGO archives for some Fabuland animal heads to create these memorable defenders.

That’s one big chicken!

The mythical cockatrice gets its day in the sun in this exciting build by Ids de Jong. A cockatrice, a monster devised by people in the Middle Ages who looked at a dragon and thought it needed a bit more chicken to it, has the potential to be a bit silly-looking, but this monster looks appropriately menacing. Those claws aren’t something I want to face, whether or not I’m wearing armor. The rest of the build looks great too—I’m a big fan of the luxuriant foliage, as well as the clever parts usage in that rickety fence. Just don’t take your eyes off the cockatrice for too long. Those slitted eyes look like they mean business.

Pumpkin spice lattes are the only things steaming in this town

It may be winter where you are, but in the Imperial City of Ids de Jong‘s imagination, fall is still in the air. Ids LEGO scene captures a slice of steampunk life as the leaves turn. The steam-powered mulcher is a nice touch, showing how newfangled technologies are good for more than airships and gyrocars! I’m a huge fan of the steampunk accents on the brick buildings, like those rickety drainpipes, the corrugated metal bay window, and the chunky metal tubes for piping in steam.

Ids built this service station for the annual Wandering Skies competition in the Seasonal Bliss category.

Take a break in this courtyard of calm

Hot on the heels of one great immersive Arabic LEGO scene, comes another courtesy of Ids de Jong. Although made on a slightly smaller scale, it shares some similarities in scope, giving us a view into the courtyards that are so typical of this style of architecture. The arch pieces framing the entrance immediately set the tone for where we are, and the minarets and towers in the background employ forced perspective to give the impression that we’re somewhere in a bustling city. And that’s all great – but what my eye is drawn to is that mosaic at the front. It uses some clever LEGO geometry: the ridges on those inverted slopes are a half-plate thick, which combines with two more plates to give the exact width of the tiles on the corners!

Dueling wizard builds give us something to crow about

Sometimes great minds really do think alike, as evidenced by two rhyming vignettes created for the Summer Joust “Beast Masters” category. Each creation features a brick-built blue spellcaster and their over-sized corvid companion, but despite similar theming, the two models demonstrate very distinct approaches to setting a LEGO scene. First up we have “The Wizard and the Raven” by Ids de Jong. Another admirer described the build as having an “I Spy appeal,” which is a great way to put it, with so many fun elements from throughout the years decorating the scene. The human figure, for which Ids credits the style to Markus Rollbühler, is definitely bringing strong wizard energy with the clever beard technique utilizing Gandalf’s hair piece. I love the personality of of the crow with the nightmare eyes from LEGO Dreamzzz, a good friend who seems eager to deliver scrolls to distant lands.

Next is “Rook and Ruin” from builder Maxx Davidson (who’s been on a roll on the site lately with his whimsical creations!). Maxx’s vignette focuses a bit more on story as it captures the warlock mid-casting as his spell rips the ground asunder. I love the inspired use of a minifig arm for the warlock’s nose, the hand gripping a pair or roots to make the mustache. Nya’s Rising Dragon head makes for a wicked torso. The rook mixes smooth and spiky elements with a touch of pearlescent tiles to create some truly lovely plumage. Two mages, two crows, two magical builds!

The LEGO bricks of 1995 are not to be underestimated

What happens when you’re restricted to the bricks of a certain LEGO era? Builder Ids de Jong thrives with such limitations, bringing us a castle that looks at home in modern-day Castle themes. Without access to modern plant parts, we still have an excellent-looking birch. Lacking today’s complement of bricks made for SNOT construction (Studs Not On Top), Ids throws together some exquisite cross-windows with the help of minifigure legs. And despite no masonry profile bricks from back in the 90’s, the old school approach of layering standard 1×2 plates to recreate the masonry texture works just fine instead. This makes me wonder what other themes could be revisited with only 1995 parts.

When hosting a banquet, don’t forget to invite the dragon

I vaguely remember once seeing an account on social media that found images from real life that looked like Renaissance paintings. I bet they would’ve liked Ids de Jong‘s mediaeval LEGO tableau! Every pixel is perfectly placed, and there’s so much going on. The jester is seemingly trying in vain to impress the guests at Majisto’s feast. They seem more interested in either reading or, well, eating. They’re about to get some more unwanted excitement though! I like the cheeky look the dragon has on his face, and the use of minifigure legs for the snout is ingenious.

I see a little silhouette-o of a minifigure

The LEGO castle building contest, Summer Joust, got underway recently. And one of my favourite categories this year is that of Silhouettes. The brief is simple: make whatever you want, but at no more than 6 studs depth. Considering LEGO’s inherently three-dimensional nature, it’s quite the challenge – but one that’s no match for Ids de Jong. He’s built this atmospheric castle scene that really leans into the theme of the contest. The mostly monochrome scenery is offset by the sunset in the distance, which emphasises the forced perspective at work. You could also see a deeper meaning here. The dark colours and creepy-crawlies in the foreground, coupled with the knight walking away from them towards the sunset and brighter pastures, indicate to me this soldier has overcome a great challenge. Perhaps that’s how Ids feels about this build!

A little Scala for your microscale

Every style of LEGO building has its challenges, but I think microscale stands out as one of the most difficult things to build, yet epic when done well. This piece, built by Ids de Jong, uses a pop of orange to pull you in, and some clever parts usage to keep you looking. There are things to admire such as the minifigure epaulet element for the ship, half a rock piece for an island, decorative swirls for water, and even a dome made from a pumpkin and topped with a trophy figure. But what really drew me to this build were the Scala perfume bottles. (Actually found in orange in the LEGO Orient Bazaar game.) They make excellent building toppers!

While you’re here, check out some of our other featured LEGO microscale model.

Camera shopping in dystopian District 7

Clad in the octagonal LEGO bricks from the Aquazone theme, the Nakano Camera Corner by Ids de Jong is a beautiful bit of cyberpunk cityscape. The seamless integration of such an awkward part is very well done here, as are all the little details accompanying the famous “NCC.” All the essential pieces of cyberpunk are present. Stripes of tiled kanji adorn the agglomeration of shops, each one created in its own style. Technological tubing and futuristic adverts are peppered throughout. Even the minifigs are tricked out for the depicted dystopic future!

While the view from the corner is quite impressive in all its yellow glory, I appreciate this alternate angle of the model even more. It really showcases all the fine details Ids crammed into this urban chunk-ola. The gutter pipe that snakes down this side of the structure is absolute genius! Color changes showcase the haphazard wear on the conduit, and the elbow that’s now supporting some plant life feels so natural amid the jumble of this decaying metropolis.

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